Sock tans

Ran to the school, then we went up to the zoo trail which is about where I fell off the group, I went to red butte like we usually do and took legacy bridge way back cause I thought that's what we were supposed to do. Apparently I missed a turn. Oh well, it was still a good run. 7:44 average. 

These are the days I love running. I hit my times and we leave for Footlocker tomorrow! We ran to Sugarhouse, did some strides then started the speed. We did 5x600s starting at the start of State, then up the little hill to Highlands track, hairpin turn opposite direction of state and finished 100ish meters past the normal finish line for track. This was to mimic the finish of Footlocker, small uphill onto the track and around to the finish. I was supposed to hit 2:15s (6:00 pace). I hit 2:16, 2:12, 2:09, 2:07, 2:03. After the first one I asked Bill what my window was and he said there was no window. So I told myself I was gonna work hard the next one now that I knew what it felt like, and I was gonna hit 2:15 or faster. Then the next I knew I could go faster if I worked, and so it went for the rest. It felt awesome. The sharp turn onto the track was annoying but that's gonna be similar to Footlocker, maybe not as sharp. Ran back to the school and added a tiny bit to 9.

Ran on the trail in St. George out and back. Elevation change felt nice! Towards the end my legs got tired. But it was a good run, 7:14 average for the whole thing including strides and the titch to add to 5 at the end. I have to wake up in 5 hours but I'm not tired... This is a problem.

Little run around the neighborhood by our hotel plus strides before heading to Disneyland

Idk how much we actually ran, ran part of the course walking the hills before heading to the beach!

Race day! Got in about 1.5 miles of warmup plus strides. Stretched before too. I was on the backline meaning I got a crappy start. Didn't get out fast enough, got boxed in. I had to push my way through people to move up in some spots. First mile was slower than I wanted because I couldn't move with all the people there. But I made my way up, going up the switchbacks I was stronger than some girls and was passing instead of being passed which was nice! Down the hill I opened up and caught some more, up poop out I struggled a bit but made it up and used the downhill well. By now I was hurting pretty bad. Came through the 2 mile at 12:50 or something meaning I slowed down a minute. But with the huge hills I guess that's alright? Maybe could have done better there. Along the lonely stretch with no spectators I struggled a bit but didnt fall back or anything, finally refocused before reservoir hill. That last hill actually went by faster than I was expecting, but man I wanted it to end. Used the downhill pretty well but it hurt my legs! Had a hard time kicking. Overall it was a good race, unfortunately it's my last high school cross country race. Oh and congrats to Garek for making NATIONALS!

We went up to Foothill, took a different route and went to the U track, then to the Avenues and down to City Creek, up the canyon a mile and back down to South Temple, then up to 13th and back to the school. My knee started bothering me when we turned up off of foothill. Along 11th and down the road to City Creek I tightened up and my form just felt really off. Up the canyon I loosened up a bit, I think stopping for a minute at the bathroom helped me relax a bit. I struggled up South Temple because by then I was tired and my sore legs hurt. 8:08 average.

Ran to the school, then up to the track and did a couple grass laps and strides. Then we did Russian 400s or something for a mile, up to Sunnyside and did a couple 800s, back down to the track and another mile of Russian 400s. The pace I was supposed to hit was slower than usual, more off of effort than time. I'm still sore and tired from yesterday and probably some from Saturday and the long bus ride back from California Saturday night, but there is a little improvement. I can walk without my legs absolutely dying like they were yesterday :) Did cool down (couple grass laps and back to the school) then when I got home ran to Harmon's and back for some rolls, that got me to 10 for the day.

Ran to cottonwood complex, did 4x500s up a different way hitting some of Bessie and Rollercoaster. This was mostly for Garek since he's going to NATIONALS but hey we like doing the workouts with him. I hit them probably around 5:40 pace. It was harder than a 500 on the track because of the hill and grass. I led the last 3, on the third one (second one that direction because we were alternating the direction) I followed what I thought was the mark from Bills measuring wheel but turned out to be some bike track, veered off course like a rookie. We did it so that the fast guys had to catch us slower folks so they started later than us. Then we ran back to East. Solid 12.5 for the day.

Ran to the school, then we did Shriners run to the Fire station, back down and when we got to Sunnyside we did a lap. I cut out early and ran back home. Ran with Jakob for most of it. Felt pretty good. It's crazy that it's the middle of December and it feels like the beginning of spring! I'm loving it now, but I hope it snows for Christmas!

Ran to Sugarhouse, a perimeter lap and back to the school. Props to Tresa for keeping up for the whole run!

Ran up to Foothill, over to Thunderbird and took Wasatch to the zoo. Then took Sunnyside back to Foothill and did VA loop to guardsman, .5 out on Shriners run and back home. It was cold and windy. But not cold enough for snow apparently, it rained instead. Oh well it was a good run. 7:55 average. Whoops I guess I did my math wrong when I was figuring out how far I needed to go.

I felt like I was working a lot harder than our 14 miler last Monday. I don't know average pace cause my garmin was dead when I went to grab it (hate that moment of disappointment). I ran to the school, then we went to Sugarhouse and did cemetery run with a lap then back to the school. On the way there I was already having a hard time breathing but I thought I would warm up and be fine. It was alright, I could work through it but it was weird how heavy I was breathing. It was like I couldn't breathe deep enough. Once I started with the group I didn't notice as much until further into the run, especially by Sugarhouse the second time and along 13th. I started to fall off when we hit Imperial or something by the cemetery, and going into the cemetery I struggled a bit. Then again by Sugarhouse. On 13th I felt like I was drained of energy, Bill was trying to get me to stay with the group and I seriously felt like I couldn't do it. I all of a sudden felt so exhausted and like my legs were gonna give out any second. It was discouraging cause I normally can keep up if I am focused but today I was giving it all and I couldn't. Bill wants me to take iron supplements (actually has for a while but I haven't because I think I've had an irrational fear that if I do I'll be too high on iron.) I think I'll try it for a while and see how I feel. I'm taking a multivitamin with vitamins A, C, D3, B-6 and B-12 and have been since track last year. My mom said this vitamin had iron in it but as I look at the nutrition facts it doesn't. I also need to be religious about my core, so I'm gonna start blogging if I do it or not. I did it 3 days last week then hit the weekend and slacked off. Eh not doin that again. I'M GONNA GET THIS 5:00 MILE. Did my core!

Definitely not in track shape right now. That's okay I will be soon. Went to the oval and did 2 miles warmup and a mile of speed changes. Then changed shoes and went to the mile start. Workout was a mile (not 1600), then 3 sets of 3x300s. All of it was supposed to be at 5:20 pace so it becomes easy for me to hit 80s. I had the window 5:20-5:25 for the mile and I tried to prepare myself mentally and thought I could do it, had a little doubt because that isn't far from my PR but I really wanted to. So I was really disappointed when I hit 5:35. It was that third lap. I fell off Bill and it was over. We started too slow at 83 (so 80ish for 400 where I was hoping 78ish) and I think that may have contributed to it cause I naturally slow down each lap. But I should have stuck with Bill. Two laps then started 300s. These had a little over 100 meters recovery and immediate start once we got to the line. In between sets we had a lap recovery. Times were: 1) 59, 60, 60. 2) 59, 60, 61. 3) 59, 60, 60. The last set I was mentally losing it but managed to gut it out. It was really hard to get myself to just finish it but I think I'm mentally stronger than I was say a few months ago. Then 6 laps cool down to 10. Did my core! 

Adventure run today! Santa left us some candy :) I'm guessing all of us are on the nice list this year! Felt pretty good, we started out slow but ended fast (the hills helped with that). Got home in time to babysit for my neighbors!

Speed at the oval. Warmup of 8 laps then 4 laps of speed changes. Workout was 5x1000s. I hit 3:32, 3:39, 3:41, 3:40, 3:41. Not a great workout, but at least I know where I'm at. After 200 meters my legs tightened up every time, and I think I've gotten so used to 6:00 pace that going under has been a lot harder. Oh well at least I was consistent. 8 laps cool down to 10. Did my core (forgot to last night because I stayed up pretty late finishing a project - that wasn't very smart). 

Ran to the school then went to the Westminister flagpole, back to East and up 800 S to guardsman then through the U campus to the U track, a lap and a different way through the Avenues until we hit Shriners run and took it back, then once we got to 900 S went to Bonneview and took it to 1300 E and back to East then added to 10.4. Had too much Top Ramen for lunch and felt sick, 8:05 average. Did my core.

Went to the Temple this morning so I missed the group run. So it was just me and my good old iPod. Ran to the zoo, then back down to Foothill, VA loop and Shriners run to the fire station, then the same thing backwards except I didn't want to go back up to the zoo so instead when I got to Sunnyside I dropped down to the track and did 2 laps then ran back home and added to 13. Felt good the last 6 or so miles so I pushed the pace. 7:43 Average finishing at a 7:14 last mile (fairly flat). My fastest was actually 6:59 but it had some downhill in it (coming down Sunnyside) so I feel it doesn't really count. Did my core!

First snowy run of the season! We went up to pipeline and went to the overlook and back then added to 10. Ran with Angie for most of it! There came a point in the run where I stopped trying to avoid the puddles and just ran through them because my feet were numb and my shoes were already soaked. Did my core. It's supposed to snow in Salt Lake on Christmas!!!

Really bad day for me. Went to the oval. Mile repeats. I was way off my time and I think that really got to me (6:03). I was already discouraged when I realized the only distance we were doing was a mile when I had thought, or rather hoped, we were running a shorter distance for the rest of the repeats. I felt awful, lost my breakfast in the bathroom on the recovery of the first repeat (I did one lap instead of two). The second one I managed to make it to the start in time, but not without making everyone wait for me. I lost the battle that went on in my head. I thought I was strong mentally but apparently not. The combination of feeling sick, not hitting my time on the last one and knowing I was only holding everyone back lost me what little focus I had, ended up just running a lot of it (6:37). Completely ashamed of myself for running that slow I called it quits, justifying it by Bills words from previous speed workouts "if you run slower than ___ you're wasting your time." I honestly feel that on any other day I would have been able to pull off this workout, it should not have been that terrible. Did the cool down.

We met at Jordan River Parkway and went 4 out and back, coming back added in a couple pickups (10x30 sec on/off). Bill asked if I was feeling better than yesterday, the answer was yes (at least today I wasn't gonna puke), but I still felt sort of off, not like I normally do.  3 minutes into those pickups my legs got really heavy and I felt like I couldn't move them. Got frustrated when I fell off the group. When we got back to the parking lot we added out the other way, I could see the group ahead and I followed. 11.25 total, Did my core. I was wondering why I have felt off, and I realized I have forgotten to take my vitamins since Saturday, can they really make that big of a difference? Ahhh getting a run in tomorrow is gonna be tough... Maybe I'll squeeze a quick one in before we head over to my grandmas house.  

I had more time than I thought, so I was able to squeeze in a small run in the snow! Merry Christmas!

Tis the season of black ice and unshoveled sidewalks. I was gonna do my Wasatch/Thunderbird loop, but I got to Foothill and saw the condition of the sidewalks I thought I'd better not. So I went up to Wasatch and the zoo, then down to Foothill and VA loop. At this point I thought I might as well do Shriners run again, was just entering the U campus when I hit some black ice. I caught myself, no injuries thank goodness, but gave me a good scare and I decided to turn around. At the light on guardsman I went backwards VA loop to Sunnyside, then decided I wanted more mileage and the sidewalk here wasn't very icy so back again to guardsman :) Then ran back home along 17th. Feeling much better than the past couple days. Did my core. Almost had a heart attack because I thought my garmin was broken (was frozen and had changed to Military time, then I pushed a button and slowly the image faded until it was blank. Plugged it in cause I thought maybe it was dead. Image came back but it was at 70%, when I took it off it disappeared again. Panicked I held the two buttons on the side to reset it, seems to have fixed it. Maybe my garmin just hates the cold as much as I do.)

Good run, feeling much better. We started at Bills house and ran along Holladay and turned down some street then kept going North. Turned around at 5ish. I fell back like 10 meters 3 miles in, the group barely made the light (AKA it was yellow) so I missed it. They stopped for a minute at the turnaround so I was able to run with them again for a bit. We hit the random street we had turned down, now uphill, and I fell off again and missed like 3 more lights. I actually liked stopping cause I could refocus myself a bit. When I hit the bottom of the hill by the street we turn up I stopped again for a minute (I was tired and still debating whether or not I really wanted to add on) then decided I would add, I went up by the light where I hit 10 (7:16 average at that point). Then came Bill from the other direction and I knew I wasn't getting away with 11, I admit I would have cut it short otherwise. Thanks for making me finish to 13 though! The last 3 miles were the slowest part of the whole thing, bringing the 7:16 average I was pleased with up to 7:28. But I guess that's still good. :)

Later I did 3.15, 7:58 average. Definitely felt the effects of the earlier run.

Ran to Sugarhouse then we did a lap and cemetery run. I felt sluggish and overall like I couldn't go fast. Fell off the group like 2-2.5 miles after I joined them (so really 3.5 to 4 miles in). I didn't go in the cemetery (sorry) so I was behind, got back to the cars and waited a minute until they got back, then Bill and Tomy were adding so I went with. A lap around Sugarhouse. 8:05 average for me. Bill says maybe the reason I can't keep up is because of strength. Makes sense cause I feel like I can run forever at a slow pace but make it fast or hilly and I struggle A LOT. So I'll probably add weights or something to get stronger. Did my core.

7 on the treadmills at Steiner. The only problem with going to Steiner: my co-workers get to see me sweat. I got very little sleep last night because of the wind. At 3 in the morning I moved to the couch in hopes of it being a little quieter. This wind is crazy! Did my core. 

8:16 average.